The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-06-18
TARIFF REFORM.


EDITOR FREE TRApER-The compare.
tive labor cost of production between Eu.
rope and America Is so vital TO correct de.
termination OF this controversy, that need
not apologize for the continued investiga-
ton of IT. We shall reach Its application
TO the glass industry In due time, Like all
other protectionsts, Mr.. Trimble rests his
entire argument for protection upon the
difference in the scale of wages there and
here. If, therefore, 1t can be shown that
the labor cost is rs cheap or cheaper in
America than In Europe or on the CONT
nent, then he must himself admit that the
protective theory has no foundation in tact
to stand upon, Aud In this connection
wish still further to emphasize and eluci-
date the universally of the law (: The higher
tie cdgeS, tie cheaper he tabor. This law
obtains, not only between nations but every
where within them-between states, coun-
ties, towns, industries, ndividuals-every-
where; and further, that inasmuch as the
law of wages is product, and not tariff,
free trade never did, anywhere upon this
earth-between nations, states, counties,
towns or individuals degrade the higher
wage to the level of the lower, but on the
contrary, its tendency is to still widen the
gulf between the higher and the lower
wage receiving laborers. In word, that
tree trade between Europe and America
would raise the wages of labor in America
instead of degrading our laborers to the
condition of "paupers like those of Eu
rope"
All trade at bottom Is but barter-the en-
change of one commodity for another and
this exchange, again, Is between the pro.
ducers of these commodities, Ships, rail
roads, warehouses, huckster shops, money,
middlemen, &c &c, are but agencies of
distribution to facilitate this exchange
Protectionists insist that ii the product of
my labor is exchanged for the product of
"pauper," it would degrade me to his
level Why? During the last Presiden-
tial campaign | received pamphlet from
the east which judge was widely circu-
lated in the interest of protection. 1t de-
clared that the average European labOrer
received In wages but the equivalent of
two pounds of beef per day; that the aver.
age American laborer received sixteen and
after declaring that free trade would de-
grade the American 10 the level of the E,l-
ropean laborer asked, with a triumphant
flourish, which would have, "free trade
and two pounds of beef per day, or protec-
ton and sixteen poundss" | returned the
pamphlet replying upon its hy.leaf that,
IF it is true as herein stated, and am
permitted 10 trade freely with the Euro
pean laborer, then for two pounds of beet,
or for one-eighth Of my days labor could
get the whole of his Thus, by retaining
seven eghths of mine and receiving eight.
eighths of his, / would get fifteensix,
teenths of the product of the joint labor of
us both; whereas he, by parting with all
of his and receiving but one eighth of
mine, would get but one sixteenth of that
product" And asked lat what point in the
deal he would begin TO reduce me to indus
trial subjection asked at what point In
a trade where | received fifteen siXteenths
of the whole, the other fellow would COM
mence dragging me down to his level" l
was innocent enough to believe that the
cheaper the foreign product the more pro-
fitable the trade, and asked if 1t we're not
so. They disdained reply, and left me
still a " Heathen.'
The simple truth is that here, as there
and everywhere, he who produces most re-
ceives most. Product Is the law of wages
and if the European laborer receives but
two pounds of beef per day it is because
the product of his days labor when taken
into the open market will sell or exchange
for no more If receive sixteen 1t is be-
cause the product of my labor when sold In
the open market will sell for sixteen-will
reimburse my employer, besides interest,
expenses, profits, &C. 10 say, therefore,
that receive mere than he, is to declare
that produce more, and is but another IL
lustration of the law, the higher tie tcd9es,
the cheaper the tabor.
When dull times rule, and the manufac-
turer Is forced TO economic, who among
his laborers is first discharged? Is 1t the
S3 day employe, or the 81 day,-the
picked up tramp, If you please In his ef-
fort to economize, the employer discharges
his most expensive labor first, aud retains
his cheapest He retains the 50 per day
man and discharges the 81 per day laborer
because the higher priced is the the CHEAP
or labor.
Wages in the salt works Of New York
are $a7i per annum. In the salt works OF